The Christmas Tree

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Christmas Tree Hunting is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Everyone else in my life seems to whine and complain about it every year, but once we're out there, everyone has a wonderful time and agrees that it's a great tradition. As such, I will continue to force my entire family to do it with me every year!

This year was a bit odd. For one, we didn't have Gram, as she is two weeks post knee replacement and didn't think that hiking up a mountain was going to work. For two, there was no snow. At all. In fact, it was pretty rainy and wet. Some years we're hiking through snow well past our knees and that definitely was not a problem this year. But we managed to find a great tree and we all had a great time. Well, I did anyway...







Since we were all wet and cold, we celebrated a good trip for coffee and waffles. 

The next day, once the tree was dry, we brought it in to decorate. I figured that Gabe would be a disaster so I planned to do it during naptime. Well, we ran out of Christmas lights and my whole plan fell apart. When Gabe woke up we had a few strands on the tree, which was totally enough for two-year-old magic. The look on his face was priceless.


After Bella's piano recital, we all came back to finish the tree and it was wonderful. It was basically exactly what I wanted: the whole family together decorating the Christmas tree. Gabe even got into it. He struggled with the hooks, but if the ornament just had a string on it, but was able to put them on just fine. He was a bit concerned because the tree was "pokey" but he loved the ornaments.



The tree has been up for a week now and I've been pleasantly surprised with how well Gabe is handling it. He's still concerned about it being "pokey", but he hasn't played with the ornaments or tried to open the presents. In fact, he gets up in the morning and comes to the tree and says "Tee. On." I turn on the lights and he grins and says "Lights. Cismas Tee." It's pretty much the greatest thing ever. I don't think he's even noticed the presents.

Bella, on the other hand, is so excited about the presents that she can hardly function. I told her that she can't open her one Christmas Eve present until bedtime tomorrow and she was not happy with me...
 
 
 
 

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